In supermarkets and retail stores floor fixtures such as freezer and refrigerator cases, floor shelving and product displays are susceptible to damage due to collisions with shopping carts, floor scrubbers, pallet jacks, and stock carts. For example, freezer and refrigerator cases typically include a glass or transparent plastic door for viewing the product without opening the door. The glass can be shattered or the plastic scratched upon impact with shopping carts or the like. Since the body of many of these floor fixtures is constructed of lightweight aluminum or hardened plastic, it can be easily dented or cracked.
Floor fixtures such as shelving are intended to hold product to be sold, and since space is generally at a premium for most retailers, this shelving is typically densely packed with product. When a collision occurs to the shelving, it is possible that the product may be knocked from the shelf resulting in the breakage of glass containers or the denting of cans. In either case, the retailer incurs a loss of product.
In order to protect floor fixtures from collisions and jarring impacts, supermarkets and retail stores have employed protective guards around the fixtures to prevent these occurrences. These guards are conventionally constructed as a horizontally extending aluminum rail, which is mounted into the floor. These rails may be covered with vinyl or include a vinyl insert to provide for impact absorption or add color to the guard. These guards are positioned around the exposed perimeter of the fixture at a distance sufficient to protect the fixture from impact but not hinder access. These guards, however, provide only a limited range of vertical protection for the floor fixture from collision due to the small vertical extension. If the rails on each side of the fixture are not joined at the corner, the fixture will have increased exposure to damage by collision at the corner position, and the retailer may incur increased maintenance costs to repair the fixture.
Other styles of commonly used protective guards consist of vertical metal posts or formed metal arced shapes that are mounted to the floor. The vertical metal posts do not envelop the corner thus narrowing the zone of protection. While formed metal shapes do have a larger zone of protection than the posts, they are not aesthetically complimentary to the cases and fixtures which they protect.
The ability to clean the guards is an important consideration. For convenience, conventional guardrails require that the rail section be removed from the floor prior to cleaning. Due to their extended length, the rail sections may be awkward to handle, and the two-part construction increases the weight of the rails.
What is needed is an improved molded body for improved protection of floor fixtures, having a single body construction that is lightweight, and easy to clean.